Apparatus for wetting a roll of pre-pasted wallpaper



Aug. 11, 1959 HA. REID ETAL 2,898,883

APPARATUS FOR w T'TiNG A ROLL OF PRE-PASTED WALLPAPER I 3 Sheeis-Sfieet 1 Filed July '7, 1954 NVENTOR-5I Harry A. 62217, John Gall I Aug. 11, 1959 H. A. REID ETAL 2,898,883

APPARATUS FOR WETTING A ROLL OF PRE-PASTED WALLPAPER Filed July 7, 1954 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Hazrr Al. P Z

INVENTOIZS.

Aug. M, 1959 H. A. REID ETAL 2,898,883

APPARATUS FOR wET'IfING A ROLL OF PRE-PASTED WALLPAPER Filed July 7, 1954 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 'INVENORE Harry .19. 56:01 y John Gall,

APPARATUS FOR WETTING A ROLL on PRE-PASTED WALLPAPER Harry A. Reid, Oak Park, and John C..Gall, Chicago, 111., assignors to Sears, Roebuck and Co., Chicago, Ill., a corporation of New York Application July 7, 1954, Serial No. 441,894

4 Claims. (Cl. 118-419) This application is in part a continuation of our application S.N. 405,544, filed January 22, 1954, now abandoned.

Pre-pasted wallpaper is old and is becoming more and more popular for use by the householder, inasmuch as it is more convenient to apply than ordinary wallpaper which requires space consuming apparatus and special skill for the application of paste and proper hanging and is likely to be more messy. As heretofore used, pre-pasted wallpaper has been moistened in a sink or other container of water, the operation usually requiring unrolling and rerolling in the water in order that the adhesive might be effectively moistened. This operation as usually practiced by the housewife is inconvenient and, unless properly performed, the adhesive may be inadequately prepared and the hanging is likely to be unsuccessful.

Our invention contemplates a special container for the preparation of pre-pasted wallpaper. According to our invention, there is provided arelatively small container of such size as convenient to hold a roll of pre-pasted wallpaper and sufilcient water to cover and moisten the same. This container is open at the top and is provided with means for retaining the roll under water in the container and also means for guiding a web of such paper through a relatively extended path under water before it emerges from the container, to insure'thorough wetting of the adhesive. Thus, in accordance with our invention, the container with the roll of paper and water may be disposed on the floor closely adjacent the wall'where the paper is-to be applied and itwill merely be necessary to draw the web of paper upwardly from the container. to the, wall surface to which it is to be applied and then to proceed immediately .tates. Patent to apply the paper to the wall in the usual manner, cutting the strip off outside of the container andrepeatingthe operation, strip by strip, until the job is completed. Obviously, such an operation may be accomplished ,with the utmost convenience and without splattering water or 'adhesivearoundthe room. Asavariation in our-invention we also contemplate a container for water generally similar to the one just described except that in lieu of having means for moistening a roll of wallpaper under wa'ter ,'we provide me'an's for moistening said roll in an elevated position, so that the roll remains dry until it is desired to'moisten it and apply it to the surface which is to be papered.

Our invention. also contemplates that the apparatusmay be made of inexpensive. materials, being preferably 1 of waterproof cardboard or the like, so that at'slight expense a container im'ay. be provided for a single papenhanging operation and. then be scrapped, a 1 .2 v i H Various-other advantages will' become apparent as the description proceeds. t

ice

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view of the same taken substantially along the line 22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view similar to Fig. 1, showing another embodiment of our invention; 3

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of still another embodiment;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view showing in use an apparatus according to any of the embodiments of our invention;

Fig. 6 is another use view at a later stage in the operation;

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of another embodiment of our. invention wherein means is provided for supporting a roll of wallpaper in an elevated position rather than under water; i

Fig. 8 is a transverse sectional view of the article shown in Fig. 7;

Fig. 9 is a fragmentary, longitudinal, sectional view of the same taken substantially along the line 9-9 of Fig. 8;

Fig. 10 is a perspective view similar to Fig. 7 showing another construction for supporting the roll in an elevated position;

Fig. 11 is a similar view illustrating still another version of the same; and

Fig. 12 is a transverse sectional view similar to Fig. 8 of the version shown in Fig. 11.

Referring first to Figs. 1 and 2, our invention contemplates a rectangular open topped container indicated generally by the numeral 10, having end walls 12, 12, a front wall 15, and a rear wall '16. This container may be formed of any relatively inexpensive material and may, for example, be molded out of papier mach and provided with a waterproof coating, and is slightly longer'in its major dimension than a roll of wallpaper: Disposed within the container 10 and preferably integral therewith is an angular guide member 18 having a bottom leaf 19 and an upstanding leaf 20, the latter being spaced from the front wall 15 as by the aperture 22. Thus angular member 1 8 is attached to the front wall 15 of the con tainer 10 and may or may not be attached to the end walls. The free edge 25 of the bottom leaf 19 'of the angular member is spaced from the wall 16 of the container. f

Turning to the embodiment of Fig. 3, we provide in this case an open top rectangular container 10a, which maybe substantially the same in overall dimensions ascontainer 10, described above, being slightly longer than the'axial length of a roll of wallpaper. In this case we may provide a simple cardboard box, preferably waterproof Disp'osed Within the container 10a, is a rack indicatedgen erally 'by the numeral 30, comprising a pair-of inverted V-shaped brackets 32, disposed at each end of 'the con tainer', which brackets may, if desired, terminate in-lat'eraL 1y projecting bights 35, which bights may be supported on the top edges of the end walls of the container or might extend through apertures therein. A 1 q A bar 38 connects one of the legs of each of the V-' shaped brackets while theother legs each have anextension, 40, 40 which extensions are preferably relatively short so as toprovide pintles or bearings for supporting-a roll of wallpaper. In lieu of providing pintles "40, a bar corresponding to bar 38 may extend between the V' shaped brackets at the rear as well as the front thereoflsu'c'h' aibar 1 "Turning now to the drawings forming apart of this H invention may be more cleailylunderstood; 5 ii i providing a stop or abutment for a roll of' 'wallpaper; functioning in the same manner as thefrontedge-25 of tlie wall 19 in the embodiment of Figs. 1-2:

Fig. 4 shows another embodiment havingia wir rack 30' of Llformation, the free ends of the wire"rack-'l1av ing hooks 50 engageable in notches in the side wall of-the box T f V i: I I In the use of either of the embodiments above'describetl a roll of pre-pasted wallpaper is placed in the container andthe w'eb thereof is fed along the bottoma nd up 'the front "wall-15 thereof, as seen in Fig. 5. Thus, in" the embodiment of Fig. .l, the web is drawn under the wall 19 and then upwardly through the slot 22. If the guide member is unattached at the'sides, it may be elevated to facilitate placing the roll in thetcontainer. lnzthe embodiment of Fig. 3 the rack .30 may be withdrawn from the boxand the pintles 40 sprung'apart to tacilitateplacing them in the roll. In the embodimentcof Fig. '4, likewise the roll isrplaced to one side of'bar 55 and the paper web-drawn thereunder. The web is then drawn'under the bar' 38-or 35 so that it extends along the bottom wall of the container and is then drawn upwardly and-out .of the container. This stage of the operation, as seen in fig. 5, may'conveniently be performed on a table T.

The operator is now ready to beginhanging. Thescontainer is then placed on the floor adjacent the :area to which the paper is to be hung and the paper is then 'drawn upwardly out of the container to the uppermost position on the wall area to which the strip is to be hung and is then applied in the usual manner, wiping the paper downwardly with a brush orsponge in accordance with the usual paper hanging process.

Fig. 6 illustrates the operation near the end'of application of a strip. At about this point the operator-willcut off the strip outside the container and finish the application of that strip to the wall surface and will repeat the operation until the entire wall has been covered.

It will readily be seen that we have provided a simple and inexpensive piece of apparatus which will greatly facilitate the operation of home hanging of pre-pasted wallpaper, whereby such material may be used with a minimum of mess and bother and with practically nosdisturbance of the usual householdfurnishings. By drawing the paper through an extended path under water-before withdrawing it from the container, thorough wetting of the adhesive is assureda condition important to the success of hanging pre-pasted paper.

We have found that it is sometimes desirable to support the roll of wallpaper above the water in the container rather than submerge it in the water. This is especially true when it is desired to hang only a portion of'a roll at onetime, the remainder of the roll being reserved for later utilization. We have found that in'such instances, if the entire roll has been submerged and the adhesive thereon has become moistened, adjacent convolutions of the roll may become stuck together so that it maybe necessary, when at some later time it is desiredto usesaid paper, to submerge the entire roll for 30 minutes or more before the paper can be unrolled.

In the embodiment shown in Figs. 7, '8 and 9 we employ a container 60 which, asin the other examples, maybe formed of'inexpensive materials such as waterproofcardboard, or the like, said container being in theform of an outwardly extending lips or flanges 62 at the front and rear thereof.

Supported by the top edges of the side walls-f the our invention, the paper supported on the trunnions 65 is kept entirely dry until it is desired for use, at which time it may be drawn under the guide member 70 for moistening and then applied to the wall surface and cut off to provide the desired length, as described above.

If the entire roll is not consumed at one time, no harm is done to the remaining paper, which remains dry and will be immediately ready for use at a later time.

In the variation shown in Fig. '10 'of the arrangement just described, we provide a U-shaped guide bar portion 76' which is integrally connected to trunnions65 by connecting bar portions 75. In this case the guide bar portion provides a substantial brace for the-trunnions, being integral therewith.

In the version of our invention shown in Figs. 11 and 12 we provide a U-shaped guide member 80 looped over the side walls of the container and extending across the sides as at 82, in substantially the same manner as in the embodiment of Fig. 10. .However, Einstead of projecting inwardly of the container to form integral 'trunnions, the wire or like member extends upwardly to form loops 85, open at the top thereof to provide seats for a rod-87'extending across the top of the container to provide an axle or bearing to support a roll of wallpaper. In this embodiment a roll of paper is disposed on the rod 87 which may then be seated in the loops 85.

Various changes coming within the spirit of our invention maybe made without departing from the essential spirit or scope thereof. We do not wish, therefore, to be limited to the particulars of the present specification and drawings nor by the languagechosen in the foregoing .description, except to the'extent indicated in the appended claims.

We claim:

:1. Apparatus for wetting pre-pasted wallpaper comprising anopen-top water-resistant container of a length at least equal to the width of a roll of pre-pasted wallpaper, said container having front, rear, side and bottom walls, means supported by said container for rotatably mounting a roll of'wal-lpaper in the upper portion of said container, and means also supported by saidcontainerfor guiding aweb of paper drawn from said roll toward the lower portion of said container to insure moistening thereof, said guide means comprising a U-shaped member extending downwardly into the container and having looped portions carried by the side walls of saidcontainer, the roll supporting means comprising a rodseated in said last mentioned loops.

2. Apparatus for wetting a roll of pre-pasted wallpaper comprising a disposable open-top container of flexible waterproof sheet material having a bottom with front, rear and opposite end walls extending upwardly therefrom to delineate a receptacle of rectangular prisopen top elongated rectangular trough having Integral container is a pair of trunnions 65 for supporting a roll of wallpaper R. These trunnions, as seen best in Fig. 9, i

comprise a U-shaped loop 67 having connected thereto an upwardly disposed angular support '69. These trunnions are preferably formed of bent wire or the like. If desired, the top edges of the side walls of the container may he notched or apertured to form seats "for-the trunnions 65. Also supported by the side walls of the-container is a U-shaped rack 70 having a bar portion 71 approximately equal to the length of the container 60 and -normally disposed adjacent the bottom thereof and serving as a guide'for the web of wallpaper which'is beingm'oiste'ned for application to a wall surface,-as seen best in Fig-:8. The .Ushaped member 70 has reversely bent .loops 72 engaging the top edges of the said wall, and the latter may likewise be .notched or apertured toreceive tsaid loops.

.-.It willsbe seen that, according to this-embodiment of matic outline having a length slightly greater than the length of the roll of pre-pasted wallpaper, said container adapted to contain a liquid for moistening the pre-pasted wall paper as it is led from the open top of said container, and a U-shaped wire member conforming substantially to the longitudinal section of the container and provided with lateral'projections in engagement with the end walls of said flexible containerto stabilize the upright positioning of said end walls against the hydrostatic pressure of the liquid within the container, and the base of said wire member extending adjacent to the bottom of said flexible container with sufiicient clearance therefromto permit the webof wallpaper to be moistened as it is led from the roll of wallpaper along the bottom of the container and upwardly therefrom beyond said wire member.

3. A device as set forth in claim 2 wherein the lateral projections of the U-shaped wire member are turned outwardly in loops and are supported by the upper :edges of the end walls of said container.

4. Adevice as set forth in claim Z-Wherein-the lateral projections of "the U-shaped wire member are turned S outwardly in loops and are supported by the upper edges of the end Walls of said container, and integral continuations of lateral projections extending for a portion of said continuations in parallel to said end walls to form spaced supports for the roll of wallpaper along an axis displaced from the plane of said U-shaped wire member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 6 Grossman Dec. 29, 1903 Arents Nov. 24, 1908 Wales July 20, 1937 Johnson Feb. 21, 1939 Garson Jan. 12, 1943 Yates et al. May 2, 1944 Cavanaugh et a1. May 2, 1944 Petty Ian. 4, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS France NOV. 3, 1937 

